Unleash the cargo shorts: Hootie & The Blowfish are back next year with a new album and tour
There’s perhaps no easier band to bag on than Hootie & The Blowfish. Blame the dopey name, the dorm floor fashion, or the tunes themselves, which, by virtue of flooding rock charts as grunge gasped its last breaths, are more or less remembered as toothless and almost insultingly simple. As we all age, however, it becomes easier to appreciate life’s simple pleasures, like, say, sipping a Coors Light as everyone at this summer BBQ sheepishly declares that “I wanna love you the best that, the best that I can.”
Well, now that you’re older, wiser, and desperate for anything that reminds you of a pre-9/11 world, rejoice in the fact that the boys are officially back. For the first time in more than a decade, frontman Darius Rucker will set aside his own flourishing career as a country balladeer to reunite the band for a massive North American tour. As Consequence Of Sound reports, Hootie has also signed a new record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville with plans to release their sixth studio album sometime in 2019. And, yes, that just so happens to coincide with the 25th anniversary of their ubiquitous 1994 debut, Cracked Rear View.
Tickets are available to the general public this Friday, December 7 via LiveNation. Below, check out the full list of dates, all of which will feature support from (“it’s been”) Barenaked Ladies.
5/30— Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater—Virginia Beach, VA
5/31—Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek—Raleigh, NC
6/1—Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood—Atlanta, GA
6/6—The Wharf—Orange Beach, AL
6/7— MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre—Tampa, FL
6/8—Coral Sky Amphitheatre—West Palm Beach, FL
6/13—Austin360 Amphitheater—Austin, TX
6/14—The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion—Houston, TX
6/15—Dos Equis Pavilion—Dallas, TX
6/19—Ak-Chin Pavilion—Phoenix, AZ
6/21— North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre—Chula Vista, CA
6/22—T-Mobile Arena—Las Vegas, NV
6/23—FivePoint Amphitheatre—Irvine, CA
6/25—Hollywood Bowl—Los Angeles, CA
6/28—Toyota Amphitheatre—Wheatland, CA
6/29—Shoreline Amphitheatre—Mountain View, CA
7/11—Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre—Englewood, CO
7/13—Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre—Maryland Heights, MO
7/14—Walmart AMP—Rogers, AR
7/19—Great Jones County Fair0—Monticello, IA
7/20—Riverbend Music Center—Cincinnati, OH
7/21—KeyBank Pavilion—Burgettstown, PA
7/26—Blossom Music Center—Cleveland, OH
7/27—Bristow, VA—Jiffy Lube Live
7/28—BB&T Pavilion—Camden, NJ
8/2—Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion—Guilford, NN
8/3—Xfinity Center—Mansfield, MA
8/4—Saratoga Performing Arts Center—Saratoga Springs, NY
8/8—Merriweather Post Pavilion—Columbia, MD
8/9—Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center: CMAC—Canandaigua, NY
8/10—Madison Square Garden—New York, NY
8/16—DTE Energy Music Theatre—Detroit, MI
8/17—Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center—Noblesville, IN
8/18—Iowa State Fair—Des Moines, IA
8/22— Minnesota State Fair—St. Paul, MN
8/23— Alpine Valley Music Theatre—East Troy, WI
8/24—Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre—Tinley Park, IL
8/29—Budweiser Stage—Toronto, ON
8/30—Hersheypark Stadium—Hershey, PA
8/31—XFINITY Theatre—Hartford, CT
9/5—PNC Music Pavilion—Charlotte, NC
9/6—Oak Mountain Amphitheatre—Birmingham, AL
9/7—Bridgestone Arena—Nashville, TN
9/13—Colonial Life Arena—Columbia, SC